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{{trope}}
So they've made a
You've just run into '''CCG Importance Dissonance'''. This can crop up in other types of games, but basically it consists of an adaptation applying [[Power Creep, Power Seep]] to the protagonists and extras to make the [[Competitive Balance|game balanced,]] as well as giving just about everyone and everything on screen a card (or more than one) because they need a sizable amount of cards for a set. This can also manifest as [[De-Power|De Powering]] (or at times [[Nerf
If the main characters ''are'' more powerful than the [[Ascended Extra|extras]] who managed to rate cards, expect them to be [[Power Equals Rarity|rare cards]], leading to a gaming community in which everyone has a dozen [[Innocent Bystander|Bystander]] [[Something Person|Lad]] cards but most people have never even seen a [[The Good Captain|Captain]] Protagonist card. If on the other hand the protagonists are rare but useless, they're probably [[Junk Rare
If the story has an [[Expanded Universe]] continuity, it may also draw cards from there or make card flavor text from it.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* In the ''[[Naruto]]'' CCG, there are various filler Ninjas that were once staples in some decks, such as Suien.
** For a long time in the game, the second most powerful card ever printed was the Third Hokage, often revered as perhaps the strongest ninja the leaf village ''ever'' produced, who {{spoiler|dies in an epic battle by summoning ''the god of death'' to defeat his opponent}},. The first? Ino Yamanaka, a low-level genin that does almost nothing in all of part 1.
** Many recent sets have introduced multiple filler ninjas in order to try and give the decks more variety in what ninjas they can play.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' has countless examples of this trope. The famous Blue-Eyes White Dragon is a 3000 ATK monster that requires two Tributes (monsters removed from the field) and has no effect; in the manga, it was powerful enough that [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|Seto Kaiba]] resorted to extortion and theft to collect every last one of them, but in the TCG that ensued, it's merely an expensive target. Likewise Yugi's signature card, the Dark Magician, which requires two Tributes but has only 2500 ATK; arguably, it's received more support cards in later years than even the Blue-Eyes White Dragon could ever hope for, but it too is a white (black?) elephant, even if you're dedicated enough to theme an entire deck around him. Not that ''all'' famous cards get this treatment, however; the very first duel featured in the manga included Summoned Skull, a powerful and incredibly playable card for many years (2500 ATK, like the Dark Magician, but it only needs ''one'' Tribute), and Monster Reborn, a powerful card that spent some time on the [[Too Awesome to Use|Forbidden List]]: it allows the player who uses it to bring back a monster from the Graveyard. ''Either player's'' Graveyard. Many of the most powerful cards, in fact, have either never appeared on the show or appeared only briefly. Nowadays it's not uncommon for each new expansion set to feature cards for an entire new deck archetype, which typically dominates the field for about
** If you play the card game as they did in the show originally (meaning, no sacrifices unless the card specifically says so), then Blue-Eyes is ungodly powerful in terms of straight beatdown. The rules of the real game are based on the second half of the Duel Monsters-era comic, the Battle City Arc; there's a reason that Kaiba relies less on Blue-Eyes White Dragon than on Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Obelisk, or XYZ Dragon Cannon in that Arc, even though it's still his signature card and end-all-be-all answer to many duels.
*** Many people, mainly kids played liked that when the cards first came out. And the result? Everyone buying out Kaiba decks to spam 3 blue eyes. So even if you used magic, traps, high attack monsters or some good strategy, heck even if you cheated a bit more than normal with a few cards, if you wiped out one blue eyes, your opponent would bring out another the next turn or revive it, and that makes you out of the game.
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* The short-lived ''[[Initial D]]'' card game had a card for a ''car stereo system''. In spite of the fact that stereo systems were never even mentioned in the original manga, anime, nor video game, and none of the characters are the type to ever give a crap about stereo systems.
* Tapkar was a gag character during ''[[Dragonball Z]]''s World Games Saga who's in show stint was as a [[Fragile Speedster]], but in Score's original ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' card game his card powers were so over powered not only was he banned, they named a redemption after him.
** The still limping (maybe crawling?) game community (as of 2011) discovered the Supreme West Kai, who only shows up in a [[Flash Back]], was far more superior to all the older strategies.
* ''[[Weiss Schwarz]]'' is guilty of this in a narrativistic instead of mechanical way. This game runs on [[Rule of Cool]] versus [[Rule of Cute]]; it tries to replicate the awesome (or heartwarming, or sad) moment of the licensed anime in its cards. To do that, it allows itself to [[Crack is Cheaper|print several different version of the same characters]], even if it's just a minor or situational variation. The downside of this, owing to the limit of cards in each expansion, is that characters whose appearances are few and far between gets less cards and decks built around them are less versatile (if building such deck is even possible)-- even if they are far more capable in-story than the spotlight-hogging main characters.
** For example, ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' trial has ''5'' variation of Saber as Character and 1 Saber-related Climax card, while Rider gets 1 Character and 1 Climax. This is despite Rider being the frickin' Alexander the Great (and all around awesome dude) while Saber is {{spoiler|King Arthur}}.
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* In ''[[Magic: The Gathering|Magic: The Gathering's]]'' this trope is literally the reason planeswalker cards exist at all. The devs basically said, "You know, it's really stupid that once a character gets important enough we can't print them on cards anymore."<ref>The in story reason Planeswalkers could be a card type without being incredibly broken or insanely hard to cast is that they're ''much'' weaker than the Planeswalkers of old. This has to do with the "Time Spiral" [[Story Arc]], which ends with {{spoiler|numerous Planeswalkers sacrificing their Planeswalker sparks (the phenomenon that made a sentient being a Planeswalker) to heal the fractures in time and space that could've unmade all realities if not taken care of.}}</ref>
** And then there is [[wikipedia:Gerrard Capashen|Gerrard Capashen]]. Plot-wise, he is a pinnacle of ages-long eugenics plan formulated by Urza, a powerful and very intelligent Planeswalker. Gerrard was specially engineered as a "Super-Soldier", to fight the denizens of Phyrexia, also known as ''The Nine Hells''. Gerrard also receives several whole sets of cards dedicated to his (and his skyship's) crew: Weatherlight Adventures (Which is the name of one of the expansions). His card? [http://magiccards.info/ap/en/11.html Utterly unremarkable]. Bonus points for the card flat-out losing to every other card representing opponents that Gerrard defeated or overcame in the novels.
** Karona, who emerges in Onslaught block as a [[Physical God|physical manifestation of Dominaria's mana]] formed from the [[Fusion Dance|fusion]] of the powerful and iconic legends Phage the Untouchable and Akroma, Angel of Wrath, is far less useful than she has any right to be as
{{quote|That card is an embarrassment to card design. I actually had zero to do with the card and I'm still embarrassed. We took two iconic beloved cool legends and combined them into a pile of, well a word I'm not allowed to use on this site. Of all the balls dropped with the design of legendary characters, this is one near the top of the list. My humblest apologies.}}
** A [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=221103 Dragon Engine] is supposed to be a titanic siege weapon, Mishra's great weapons in the Brothers War. Its printed version can be easily destroyed by two [http://magiccards.info/po2/en/63.html Bear Cubs].
** The series' main villain of many years, Yawgmoth, also couldn't get a card printed depicting him because he was so powerful that a large group of old-style planeswalkers (mages powerful enough that they could create their own planes of existence if they wanted to—new-style planeswalkers are ''substantially'' weaker) armed with soul-powered nukes could only barely defeat him after hitting him with a weapon forged from Urza's thousands of years of planning and an impressive [[Xanatos Gambit]] on Urza's part. Several cards depicting aspects of Yawgmoth have been printed over the years, including [http://magiccards.info/scans/en/ud/75.jpg Yawgmoth's Bargain] and [http://magiccards.info/scans/en/us/171.jpg Yawgmoth's Will], which are well into [[Game Breaker]] territory. Given that [[Word of God]] states Yawgmoth is [[Deader Than Dead]], it's unlikely the game's most iconic villain will ever be rendered in card form, even ''if'' it wouldn't be the equivalent of having [[God]] as a Top Trumps card.
* In ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'', minor, often useless characters can be major players in the game due to nothing more than raw fan popularity. Finding a faction with an [[Ascended Extra]] isn't the exception, but the rule. Toku and Bayushi Tangen were chump sacrificial characters when introduced. The former's daughter now leads the Scorpion Clan as a regent, and the latter's students now comprise the clan's [[Big Damn Heroes]] troops.
** In contrast, since storyline tournaments usually net storyline victory cards, balance demands [[Power Creep, Power Seep]]. It's not uncommon for these victory cards to be utterly useless, or better for someone else's clan, or for a clan's repeated victories leading directly to them being utterly useless in subsequent sets.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* ''[[Hero Clix]]'' has produced very many figures in various combinations of usefulness. Contrary to [[Popularity Power]] though, quite a few A tier heroes aren't as powerful as you'd hope, while a few B and C list heroes are pretty darn powerful and useful. Examples are first generation Controller, a no-name villain who starts out super strong, but rather than get weak when damaged gains mind control, and Fire Lord, a minor herald of Galactus who was super powerful and insanely cheap to play. At one point it was common to see teams composed of several big-name superheroes and a nameless Hydra Medic, or other cheap healer.
* Top Trump decks often demonstrate this trope, either for balance reasons or because of different interpretations of characters. For example, in one [[DC Comics]] deck, the Penguin and Harley Quinn have the highest Intelligence score in the game, and while they're certainly not stupid they shouldn't be beating [[Diabolical Mastermind]] Ra's al Ghul or [[Mad Scientist
== [[Film]] ==
* There was a ''[[Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' CCG, briefly. They had cards for every item and background character in the movie - even ones that didn't have names (which the CCG was mostly comprised of) such as "Gift-Wrapping Elf" and "Ghost on the Left".
* While the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' movies portray heroes such as Boromir or Gimli as capable of successfully defeating dozens of Orcs or Uruks in a single fight, in the ''[[The Lord of the Rings]] Trading Card Game'' most minions, including not only Nazguls or Trolls, but about 98% of all "random nameless extra" Orcs, Uruks and Evil Men are stronger than the basic Fellowship members. Thus, the Fellowship has to arm itself with lots and lots of weapons and use various combat support to be able to win skirmishes. And even then, many wounds are taken.
** The game suffered from [[Power Creep, Power Seep]] as well. In the first year of the game Fellowship members (and Arwen) were the strongest companions in the game, while various "random nameless extra" Elves and Dwarves had significantly lower stats and were used for [[Heroic Sacrifice]] rather than combat. Over time the distinction blurred and the Extras started receiving the same stats as the Heroes, though the Heroes still came with better abilities. And further down the road there came characters who, while important figures in Middle-Earth, only had seconds of screen time and yet were stronger than Aragorn, Eomer or Gandalf.
* The ''[[Star Wars Customizable Card Game]]'' not only has mooks but also gives cards and brief bios for very minor characters, such as those only seen in the Mos Eisley Cantina. It also averted the original [[Power Creep, Power Seep]] problem by issuing new versions of major characters, each with different situational talents. [[Farm Boy]] / Vanilla Luke was good at flying; "Commander Luke Skywalker" was adapted to life on Hoth; "Son Of Skywalker" got bonuses when undergoing Jedi training; etc. (Amusingly, Decipher decided to treat "Senator Palpatine" and "The Emperor" as two separate people, one working for the Light Side and the other Dark, so opposing players can each control a version. But [[Author Existence Failure|the game was cancelled]] before they could figure out how to deal with Anakin.)
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== Literature ==
* The [[The Lord of the Rings|Middle Earth]] CCG was infamous for its "[[Word of Dante|Kuduk Lore]]"
** This is made even more galling because few of the Nazgul's names mattered at all, as they were little more than the will of Sauron by this point in the narrative. Their faceless malice was terrifying. A card called [[You Are Number Six|Sixth of the Nine]] fits the theme -and- is downright scarier.
* The [[Cthulhu Mythos|Call of Cthulhu]] LCG lets you play Cthulhu himself, and he can be killed. Granted it's very hard but it still feels wrong.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' Top Trumps (original series) was mocked because the historical characters had to be beefed up for play balance, so you ended up with Joan of Arc being able to defeat a Sea Devil or suchlike.
** The actual ''[[Doctor Who]]'' CCG kind of inverted this; virtually all common cards were absolute unplayable rubbish and uncommons weren't much better. Most recognizable characters were rares, and the Fourth
** The latest incarnation -- ''Doctor Who: Monster Invasion''
* The ''[[Star Trek]]'' CCG by Decipher actually cycled into and out of this trope. At first players only used named characters since the no-name Starfleet [[Red Shirt
** Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's unnamed cameo character is an ultra-rare card. There are about half a dozen ultra-rares in the entire game.
** The second edition of the game fixed this to some extent, leaning more on using multiple versions of main characters. Of course, it had four Trek series to draw from while the first edition kind of didn't.
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* The strongest card in the [[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]] deckbuilding game (and one of the strongest in any deckbuilding game) is Bat-milk, based on a one-panel gag in [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/8/14 this comic]. It's a cheap card that lets you reveal the next two cards from your deck, adding them to your hand if they're green (cash) or trashing them if they're red (combat). Since it is ''itself'' a green card, a few of them will very quickly leave you with a green-only deck that draws itself every turn [[For Massive Damage|for massive profit]]. The only real way to compete with a Bat-milk deck is with another Bat-milk deck, and the game is likely to just come down to who buys more before they run out.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Collectible Card Game]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Dissonance Tropes]]
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